Ready Player One is the first novel by Ernest Cline, and comes out of the gates screaming with a sci-fi adventure directed exactly at the Sci-Guy generation.

The year is 2044. The world has been devastated by financial ruin. The only source of sanity and self-esteem is the virtual world of OASIS. Created by a Steve Jobs-like fantasy techno-nerd, the OASIS is the ultimate in MMOs. But when this child of the 80s dies, he leaves a quest to his his riches that requires not only an intimate understanding of his childhood, but a complete understanding of the pop culture of his youth. And we are not talking baseball stats ala “Back to the Future”.

The quest means winning billions of dollars, but our hero, Wade (better known as his OASIS avatar, Parzival) is more interested in making sure the corporation IOI doesn’t finish the quest first.

In a simple summary Ready Player One doesn’t sound like any great shakes, but for a child of the 70s and 80s this was an almost disturbing rummaging through my bedroom closet set 40+ years in the future. The students of pop culture in 2044 regard Better Off Dead and Say Anything with the same regard I talk about Citizen Kane. It is disarming at first, but makes sense given the context of the world they live in: All media in history is available and accessible instantly. It just seems in the state of the world in 2044 there is little or no new media, or at least entertainment that isn’t beyond watching people do things in the OASIS.

What results is a very satisfying adventure from the perspective of a high-school student of 30+ years in the future using his encyclopedic knowledge and study of everything from Dungeons and Dragons, Atari 2600′s “Adventure”, Rush’s “2112″ album, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Tempest, Joust, Pac-Man, Voltron, Ferris Bueller, Ultraman, War Games, E.T. … the list is practically endless.

And that is what makes this such a fun read. The grounding in reality at the beginning gets hard to hold onto at the end of the story, but that’s OK. Ready Player One is a fun (if not slightly long) read especially for anyone who has ever rolled a 20-sided-die, flipped a New Order 12″, or fantasized about flying an X-Wing. As a victim of all three, I found this a weirdly satisfying romp into my treasure chest. I look forward to seeing what Cline has next.

By Sci-Guy-John

By Sci-Guy-Jim

Sorry about the ad in the embed, but YouTube is being picky about their trailer…

So… we have “Once Upon a Time” and “Grimm” on television, and now we have the Fairy Tale movies enroute! The clip above does look, IMHO, pretty good. The hot chick from Aeon Flux wants to kill the annoying chick from Twilight, so she has Thor go after her in a magical wood. This isn’t your Disney “Snow White” anymore! “Snow White and the Huntsman” should hit theaters next summer.

By Sci-Guy-Mike

“In Time”, “Grimm”, odds and ends, and “Old Boy” in the Manga Minute. And, oh yeah. COD.

By Sci-Guy-Jim

The folks over at Quantum Mechanix, Inc., have a beautiful “just under $100″ gift idea for any Browncoat you have on your list this year.  Pictured to the right is their latest offering from the Firefly universe– a beautifully painted maquette of Captain Reynolds’ ship “Serenity.” 

There will be an amazing rush for these things, so head over here if you are interested in trying to get on the order list now.  And while you are there, check out all the other amazing replicas they have to offer.  Need some authentic BSG Colonial dogtags?  They have it.  Need a nice Captain Hammer T-shirt?  They have that too.

By Sci-Guy-Mike

By Sci-Guy-John

From The Slate: Orson Welles talks with H.G. Wells about “War Of The Worlds” and world wars in 1940.

By Sci-Guy-Jim

Reminiscent of Kurosawa’s “High and Low”, the first trailer for Grand Theft Auto V has hit the streets, and these streets appear to be Los Angeles. What do you think?

By Sci-Guy-John

Halloween Spook-tacular! The horror of streaming. The terror of new TV shows. The fright of “Batman: Year One”. All this plus HorrOctober continues with Junji ito in the “Manga Minute”, and a creep-tastic “Guess The Year”

By Sci-Guy-Jim

Back in 1987, Frank Miller wrote a four issue story in D.C.’s Batman title called “Year One.” The story gave readers a look at the beginning of the Bruce Wayne/Batman duality and introduced then-Lieutenant Jim Gordon as a major player in the early years of the Dark Knight’s rise in Gotham City.  Batman #404-407 was reprinted in several graphic novel formats, and went on to win plenty of praise for both its story and visual style provided by David Mazzucchelli and Richmond Lewis.

Twenty-four years later, “Batman: Year One” is the latest offering from the D.C. Animated Universe.  The animated version sticks to the original story, and the artistic style does a fantastic job evoking the original.

DCAU has found a fantastic actor to voice Jim Gordon.  Bryan Cranston (most recently seen on “Breaking Bad”) sounds absolutely perfect in the role.  Katee Sackhoff gives Detective Sarah Essen her voice, and to be honest I didn’t even realize it was Sackhoff until I watched the credits.  Eliza Dushku provides the voice of Selina Kyle/Catwoman.

For some reason, Kevin Conroy, who has voiced animted Batman in almost everything since “Batman: The Animated Series,” is not in the lineup.  Ben McKenzie (Southland, The O.C.) tackles the iconic role.  At first, I found his take on Bruce Wayne/Batman a little flat.  But it grew on me, and by the end I was again absorbed in a story that I’ve practically had memorized since High School.

I bought “Year One” on Blu-Ray because it came with all sorts of extras.  The disc includes a Catwoman short story that starts out as a T&A fest, then rapidly turns into a non-stop action thrill ride.  There are a couple of episodes from “The Animated Series” picked by Bruce Timm, and a pretty decent feature regarding Frank Miller’s work in the Batman universe.  Oh yeah… there is a long preview for the next DCAU release in Spring, 2012:  “Justice League:  Doom.”  Yep.  The Legion of Doom.  How funny that we just saw the Legion of Doom appear in last week’s episode of “Young Justice.”

My only real complaint about “Year One” is this:  it’s only 64 minutes long.  But in that 64 minutes, it manages to capture the original feel of the comic.  Check this one out– enjoy the early fumblings of a young Batman and develop an appreciation for just how big of a bad-ass Jim Gordon can be.  “Year One” gets my recommendation as a “must see” offering from the DCAU.

By Sci-Guy-Mike